It’s Positively Time to Stop Being So Negative

It is a simple, yet profound concept that could help solve our economic plight. If people applied the same vigor and enthusiasm that they do when it comes to complaining about the current financial situation and our government, to actually working in a productive manner, this country would be booming again.

The energy levels out there are amazingly high. It is incredible to watch and witness. The only problem – and it's a big one – is it's all negative.

Take health care reform for example. While half the country views the recent reform as a positive one, the anti-reform hysteria by the other half is alarming.

Here is a bill – which is now law – that is actually so cumbersome, even the experts in the industry are debating the many pros and possible cons of it. It is an amendment that many predict will actually lower the national deficit in 10 years, it's just a question of how much, and it's a law that will allow people (like myself who used to have cancer) to be covered for diseases they once had but have fortunately been free and clear of for more than 10 years.

Those are some pretty darn good aspects if you ask me. Yet, people out there are spending their whole day vehemently and ruthlessly disparaging the change. In fact, many Republicans in Congress are now vying to spend all their efforts on repealing the bill instead of moving on to tackle other vital concerns that we – the general public – can and will actually directly benefit from. (Funny – these are the same folks that berated the president for spending time on a non-economic stimulus matter that was not vital to the country's short-term well-being. Yet, here they are now stating they'll spend every waking hour returning us to the status quo. That's irony.)

What is also comical is none of these complainers are economists. And they aren't health care gurus. Yet, here they all are consuming valuable time and resources on a matter they don't – and can't – quite understand fully. Sure you can express doubt and dislike for certain aspects, but thousands upon thousands are out there right now writing, blogging, vociferating – with every fiber of their being – their downright hatred of this new reform.

Should we really be fighting back with such fiery intensity against something that in the end won't directly affect many of us in the end? At least not in a way that requires such backlash.

The answer is a resounding no. The problem does not lie in the law, it lies in this useless craze to bash all things Obama and all things government. "Another sign of big government take over," was one comment I read. "Might as well change USA to USSR!" was another.

If the comments weren't stated with so much animosity and with such negative passion, they'd actually be comical. It's also not funny that we tend to focus our attention toward negative backlash instead of positive action.

The solution, however, is simple. Let's tap into this robust, heated liveliness and turn it around so we can use it in a productive manner. We need to direct this giant ball of energy into creating, producing, supporting, and basically digging our way out of this hole. Point the finger anywhere you want, but we are the ones that got ourselves into this mess, so we are the ones that need to lift each other out of this great depression.

One of the main causes of this lunacy is simple – too many of us allow other naysayers to think for us. It's another irony actually. While we waste tons of energy refuting government matters that aren't worthy more than a nice calm, open debate, we are being lazy in the end. We let others, like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, make up our minds for us.

In this 24-7 "news" world, we want to listen to what the other "experts" have to think and say. The problem with that is to fill the around-the-clock time slots, they put in people who actually get paid to stir up controversy. You actually get people who are forced to be as negative and hostile as they can (without crossing the moral and ethical barriers in place), in an effort to garner the most viewers and listeners as possible. It's unfortunate, but we as humans love controversy and we love drama. We are drawn to it like moths to flame.

Perhaps it's not their fault. Perhaps they are just saying what we humans want to hear. I am not a psychologist, but maybe it's human nature to be ultra pessimistic in times of need and despair. I mean it's much easier to panic, complain, and point fingers than actually step up and offer solutions and aid, right?

Maybe pundits out there are just feeding off our own desire to remain negative. It would make sense because the antagonistic fervor out there in American society is at an all-time high. And it's happening at a time when we need it to be the exact opposite.

Currently, the rest of the world sees America as the bickering nation. I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but it's true. We are in the midst of an internal struggle that quite frankly is not necessary. It's time to rise up and show the rest of the world exactly what – and who – makes this country so great.

It's time to stop working ourselves into a useless frenzy and simply just get back to working.